Vlad and Kim’s love in! Russian and North Korean despots laugh, joke, hug and even enjoy a breakfast date together during trip to Beijing

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea‘s Kim Jong Un were spotted laughing, joking, hugging, and even enjoying breakfast together during a trip to Beijing.

Rare images captured candid moments between the two leaders as they sat across the table from one another and shared a car ride – underscoring a personal warmth and growing closeness in Russia–North Korea ties.

Suited an in seemingly good spirits – Putin and Jong Un were seen sharing moments of laughter and embrace on their visit to Beijing to attend China‘s commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

China’s growing military might was shown off by President Xi Jinping yesterday during a massive parade in Beijing.

President Xi welcomed Kim with a long handshake, then moved on to greet Putin, before all three walked together to watch the parade. 

This was the first time all three leaders have been seen in public together. Later, Putin and Kim met, with Putin praising Pyongyang for sending soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

Putin and Kim joined 24 other dignitaries who had been invited to the Beijing parade.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung did get an invitation, but turned it down. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who met President Xi earlier this week – was also not present.

Xi boasted China was an ‘unstoppable’ force – and warned the world faces a choice of ‘peace or war’.

On Monday, Xi had delivered his vision for a new global security and economic order during a summit of nations that included Russia and India.

In a barely veiled attack on Donald Trump‘s America, he said: ‘We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics.’

Mr Trump responded to yesterday’s parade in Tiananmen Square – and to the show of unity by America’s rivals on the world stage – by accusing them of ‘conspiring’ against the US.

In a Truth Social post he asked Xi to ‘please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America’.

He then raised the support that the US gave to China in the Second World War in its fight against the occupying Japanese, questioning whether Xi ‘will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader.’

He signed off: ‘May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration.’

The Kremlin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, responded to Mr Trump’s message saying: ‘No one has been conspiring, no one has been plotting anything, no conspiracies.

‘None of these three leaders had such a thought.’

He added: ‘Everyone understands the role played by the United States, the current administration of President Trump and President Trump personally in the current international situation.’

The parade included tanks, regiments of troops and the very latest Chinese hardware such as missiles, lasers and drones.

Kicking off the parade, Xi cautioned that the world was still ‘faced with a choice of peace or war’ before saying that China was ‘unstoppable.’

The demonstration that China is rapidly catching up with America’s lead in military technology was the climax of a summit of world leaders who have ties to the autocrats in Beijing and Moscow and was billed as an alternative to the US-led global system.

Lasers, drones and missiles… Beijing’s hi-tech kit is catching up with the US

China’s huge show of hardware yesterday was designed to prove that it is catching up with America’s military.

The US and the West have long held an advantage over China thanks to their technology and the quality of their weapons – but Beijing’s show of force reveals even that is now under threat.

On show were intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear strike to Western cities and hypersonic missiles capable of striking ships at sea.

There were also new tanks, aircraft, undersea drones and combat robots. The demonstration was meant to tell the world that China could one day be ready to break the West’s long-held grip on international order.

But behind the columns of tanks and rows of soldiers marching in perfect unison, a small white box sitting on a transporter could be the clearest sign of China’s advances in weapons technology.

The LY-1 is a shipborne laser weapon – an addition to a powerful navy which already has more warships than the US Navy. Its specific capabilities remain unknown but experts fear it can burn through electronics and blind enemy sensors, and so bring down drones, missiles and planes.

The US and Britain have made strides towards developing their own directed-energy weapons.

Britain’s is known as DragonFire. It is part of a £5 billion investment and trials have shown it can lock on to and destroy drones.

Each ‘shot’ costs just a few pounds – far cheaper than firing a missile. The UK plans to mount DragonFire on Royal Navy ships from 2027. A land version is also being tested on Army vehicles.

America, meanwhile, has poured billions into laser research and remains ahead of both Britain and China – for now. One of its most advanced is the Helios system that can burn drones out of the sky and blind enemy sensors.

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were overheard at the parade discussing how to prolong life.

Putin suggested eternal life could be achievable as a result of innovations in biotechnology, according to remarks caught on a hot mic by Chinese state TV. Neither Xi nor Putin has expressed any intention of stepping down.

At one point Putin’s translator said: ‘With the development of biotechnology, organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality.’